The National Center for Innovation in HIV Care | Fenway Health: Health Care Is A Right, Not A Privilege.The National Center for Innovation in HIV Care – Fenway Health: Health Care Is A Right, Not A Privilege.

The National Center for Innovation in HIV Care

The National Center for Innovation in HIV Care provides free training and technical assistance to Ryan White-funded AIDS service organizations (ASOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) to help them navigate the changing health care landscape. We help organizations develop strategies to improve operational effectiveness, and implement best practices to optimize outcomes along the continuum of HIV care.

Health care reform and recent research developments such as the preventive effects of HIV treatment have changed the context in which ASOs and CBOs provide HIV prevention and care services. Many ASOs and CBOs have expertise in serving marginalized populations which mainstream health care providers may not have. Increasing the ability of PLWHA to access health care is key to improving the health of PLWHA and increasing viral suppression rates. The National Center for Innovation in HIV Care provides ASO and CBO leaders with the service models and tools they need to 1) diversify their funding streams and 2) work together with health care organizations or develop their own health care services to increase linkage, access and retention in care.

What We Do

Training

The Center offers training via live and on-demand webinars and interactive learning collaboratives that focus on 1) improving organizational sustainability and 2) improving care along the HIV continuum (also known as the treatment cascade). Examples include:

• Understanding the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Ryan White-funded HIV care
• Evaluating how your organization addresses the HIV continuum of care
• Models for formal affiliation with health care organizations
• Restructuring organizations for a changing landscape
• Building board/governance capacity to support organizational change
• Developing new service lines, including pharmacy services in your organization
• Adding billable mental health and substance use services
• Business planning for ASOs and CBOs
• How ASOs and CBOs can contract for non-HIV services with hospitals
• Social enterprise for revenue diversification

Individualized technical assistance for ASOs and CBOs

The Center also provides individualized technical assistance to Ryan White-funded ASOs and CBOs focused on enhancing sustainability and improving outcomes for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Organizations interested in receiving technical assistance (TA) should contact nationalhivcenter@fenwayhealth.org. Center staff will promptly respond to assess TA needs and to ensure that TA needs align well with Center expertise, capacity and resources. Where there is a good fit, the center will work with TA requestors to develop a customized plan for assistance. Where there is not a good fit, staff will strive to identify resources outside the Center that may be better able to address the need.

TA will be provided by the organizational members of the Center and/or its faculty. TA may include review and input on relevant materials, plans, processes and forms; consultations via skype or phone with content experts from across the field; and/or in-person site visits to assess, train or strategize with teams in the field. (Travel resources are limited.)

In addition, the Center has a robust roster of model programs that have utilized different approaches to integrating care, from building services within their programs to formal linkages with health care organizations. For interested TA requestors, site visits with model programs can be arranged. Travel costs to visit model programs will be the responsibility of the agency requesting TA.

Who We Are

The National Center for Innovation in HIV Care is a HRSA/HAB-funded cooperative agreement with the Fenway Institute, which is collaborating with AIDS United and the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW).

• The Fenway Institute is the research, training, and health policy division of Fenway Health, a federally qualified health center that is the largest provider of HIV care in New England (www.fenwayhealth.org).

• AIDS United works to end the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. through strategic grant making, capacity building, policy advocacy, technical assistance, and formative research (www.aidsunited.org).

• ARCW is home to the ARCW Medical Center, which provides integrated care and services to more than 3,000 people living with HIV through its CMS approved Medical Home. ARCW has provided training and TA to ASOs in 19 states (www.arcw.org).

Contact Us to Learn More

To learn more about our programs, including upcoming webinars and continuing education opportunities, please visit our page at the TARGET Center. To sign up to be on our distribution list for webinars, issue briefs and tool kits, please email us at nationalhivcenter@fenwayhealth.org or call us at 617.927.6028.